Teamsters, Thomas Jefferson Protest IFDA’s Lobbying Efforts to Weaken Food Safety Laws
June 24, 2009
U.S. Foodservice, Others Asked Not to Lobby Against Food Protection Measures
(Washington, D.C.) – Yesterday, representatives from the Teamsters and a Thomas Jefferson impersonator dropped in on the International Foodservice Distributors Association’s (IFDA) annual “Day in Washington” meeting at the Park Hyatt Hotel to protest U.S. Foodservice and its lobbyists’ attempts to weaken food safety regulations.
Robert Aiken, CEO of U.S. Foodservice, is a director of the International Foodservice Distributors Association, which has publicly opposed the Safe Food Act. It has objected to measures like mandatory recall authority and an expansion of U.S. Food and Drug Administration inspections. It has described expanded regulatory authority as “the greatest danger.”
The Teamsters also used the opportunity to protest IFDA’s anti-worker and anti-union lobbying activity and raised awareness of the plight of thousands of workers across the country that work at U.S. Foodservice.
The IFDA presents a bi-annual “Thomas Jefferson Award” to the Congresspersons who have voted in line with IFDA’s legislative agenda at least 70 percent of the time in the past session. At last night’s dinner, the Teamsters presented their own Thomas Jefferson Award to U.S. Foodservice, proclaiming in Jefferson’s own words that "A wise and frugal government . . . shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned.”
Over the past 10 years, U.S. Foodservice has been cited 128 times by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for health and safety violations in the workplace. More recently, Region 28 of the National Labor Relations Board cited the company for almost 200 violations of U.S. labor laws. The Teamsters Union represents 4,000 workers at 26 U.S. Foodservice distribution centers.
U.S. Foodservice, based in Rosemont, Ill., is owned by private equity firms Kohlberg, Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) and Clayton Dubilier & Rice, Inc. (CD&R), and is one of the largest food distributors in the United States. Holding contracts with numerous businesses and organizations, U.S. Foodservice supplies food to millions around the country, including the U.S. Defense Department and the U.S. Veterans Affairs Department.
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters was founded in 1903 and represents 1.4 million hardworking men and women in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.